1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a real-time information system accommodated to a semiconductor supply chain and, more particularly, to a real-time information system integrated with radio frequency identification (RFID) techniques and accommodated to a semiconductor supply chain.
2. Description of Related Art
Prior art in relation to wafer inventory or transport using RFID techniques are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,330,971 (hereinafter referred to as '971), U.S. Patent application publication No. 2006/0043197 (hereinafter referred to as '197) and Taiwan Patent No. 1267029 (hereinafter referred to as '029). The '971 patent provides a wafer tracking system using RFID techniques, as shown in FIG. 1A, in which a system 10 comprises a plurality of wafer-loaded carriers 11, an RFID reader 12, an RFID tag 14 mounted on each of the carriers 11, and a controller 13. The RFID reader 12 reads the RFID tag 14 mounted on each of the carriers 11 through a plurality of antennas 15 connected thereto, and then sends a tag info read from the RFID tag 14 to the controller 13 via an RS-232 interface, thereby providing information regarding present locations of the carriers 11 and wafers loaded thereon.
The '197 patent application provides a wafer transport system using a carrier integrated with RFID techniques, as shown in FIG. 1B, in which a system 100 comprises a transport device 110, a carrier 111 for carrying wafers, a processing tool 115, an RFID reader 116 and a tool controller 117. When the carrier 111 is transported to the processing tool 115 by the transport device 110, the RFID reader 116 which is mounted at the processing tool 115 reads an RFID tag 114 mounted on a carrier body 112 of the carrier 111, and sends a carrier identification code stored in the RFID tag 114 to the tool controller 117 for the processing tool 115 to process wafers in the carrier 111.
The '029 patent provides a wafer transport system using a carrier integrated with RFID techniques, as shown in FIG. 1C, in which a transport system 1000 comprises a wafer cassette 1010, an RFID tag 1020 attached to the wafer cassette 1010, a transport device 1030, a processing tool 1040, an RFID reader 1050, a host 1060 and a trigger 1070. When the RFID tag 1020 of the wafer cassette 1010 appears in the vicinity of the processing tool 1040, an RFID interrogator can directly retrieve information from the RFID tag 1020 and automatically activate the transport device 1030. As a result, the wafer cassette 1010 may be mistakenly transported to a port by a mechanical arm, thereby injuring an operator. However, the operator can give instructions to the host 1060 by directly operating the trigger 1070, so as to control the timing of information retrieval by the RFID interrogator. Therefore, the mechanical arm will not be accidentally activated by untimely retrieval of information from the RFID tag 1020 by the RFID interrogator, and the operator's safety is thus secured.
While the prior art mentioned above uses RFID techniques to transport or track wafers, the RFID techniques are not integrated with an information system related to wafer stock, testing and logistics. As a result, a wafer-based information cannot be exchanged in real time among vendors in a semiconductor supply chain. Therefore, it is a pressing issue in relevant industries to integrate the RFID techniques into an information system related to wafer stock, testing and logistics, so that vendors in a semiconductor supply chain can monitor wafer-based information online and in real time via a real-time information system.